Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing , Chevrolet , Chrysler , Dodge , GM , Honda , Toyota , SRT Once again, the most American car on the market is from an American brand. The Ford F-150 retained its number one spot in Cars.com ‘s annual survey of the most American vehicles, trumping the Toyota Camry , which remains at number two. Ford taking the top spot is small consolation, though, as the Detroit Three aren’t too well represented here. General Motors scored a win at number seven, with the Chevrolet Corvette , while Chrysler squeaked in at number ten, with the Dodge Viper . Outside of those three vehicles, Toyota and Honda dominate the top ten. What’s most remarkable, though, is that there were so few cars available for this year’s list. “Only ten cars were eligible for the American-Made Index this year. That’s the fewest in the study’s nine-year history. In 2013, 14 cars met the threshold, 20 in 2012 and 30 cars the year before that,” said Patrick Olsen, Editor-In-Chief of Cars.com . “This consistent decline points to global nature of cars these days.

Filed under: Truck , Chevrolet , Chrysler , Ford , GM , GMC , Nissan , Toyota , Ram Car buyers have a responsibility to be well-informed consumers. That’s not always a very simple task, but some guidelines are self-evident. If you live in a very snowy climate, you generally know a Ford Mustang or Chevrolet Camaro might not be as viable a vehicle choice as an all-wheel drive Explorer or Traverse , for example. If you want a fuel-efficient car, it’s generally a good idea to know the difference between a diesel and a hybrid. But what if it’s kind of tough to be an informed consumer? What if the information you need is more difficult to come by, or worse, based on different standards for each vehicle? Well, in that case, you might be a truck shopper. For years, customers of light-duty pickups have had to suffer through different ratings of towing capacities for each brand. For 2015 model year trucks, though, that will no longer be a problem. According to Automotive News , General Motors , Ford and Chrysler Group have announced that starting with next year’s models, a common standard will be used to measure towing capacity.

Filed under: Government/Legal , Japan , Honda , Nissan , Toyota , Earnings/Financials For years, Detroit automakers would argue that the Japanese yen was artificially devalued, and that the value of the currency was a big competitive advantage to the likes of Toyota and Honda . To erase this gap, The Detroit Three pressured suppliers to lower costs in any way possible, which caused ill-will within their supply bases. In fact, Japanese automakers routinely scored higher in supplier relation studies, while General Motors , Ford and Chrysler hovered at the bottom of the list. One massive global recession and a fast-rising yen later, it appears that the shoe is on the other foot. Automotive News reports that Toyota has made it clear to its 219 largest domestic suppliers that costs must be cut or business will be lost to countries with cheaper labor. Toyota reportedly loses $343 million in profit for every one yen the currency rises against the dollar. Given that the Japanese currency has risen by 13 versus the dollar over the past year, Toyota could be looking at a staggering $4.5 billion in losses. For perspective, that’s more than half of Toyota’s total research and development spending for any given year. Ouch. And Toyota isn’t alone in looking for ways to combat the rising yen.